JPS63267046A - Automatic answering telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To confirm the residual capacity of an accumulation area when a voice message is recorded through a main wire by modulating a guidance signal in correspondence with the residual capacity of the accumulation area for voice message of a prescribed length and transmitting it to the main wire. CONSTITUTION:A guidance signal generation circuit 4 and a control part 9 as a guidance signal modulation control means which starts the guidance signal generation circuit 4 at the time of automatic incoming, modulates the guidance signal in correspondence with the residual capacity of the accumulation area for voice message of a prescribed length, where recording is executed in a voice message accumulation part 6 and transmits the signal to the main wire are provided. The control part 9 supervises the residual capacity of the accumulation area for business message and changes the generation period of the guidance signal in accordance with the residual capacity of the accumulation area for business message in the middle of recording, for example. Thus, the residual capacity of the accumulation area for voice message is confirmed by the guidance signal while recording can be executed when the voice message is recorded through the main wire, and operability improves.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an answering machine with improved operability when recording voice messages via a central office line.

[Conventional technology]

Voice messages are recorded on an answering machine by a user who is near the answering machine using a built-in microphone or handset, or by the user via a central office line. In either case, the user needs to adjust the length of the voice message to be recorded so that it fits within one storage area of a certain length allocated for voice message storage in the voice message storage means of the answering machine. For this reason, allowing the user to check the remaining capacity of the storage area while recording a voice message is of great help to the user in adjusting the length of the voice message.

Therefore, conventionally, the maximum recording time for each storage area has been communicated to the user by writing it in the instruction manual, etc. When recording, the user can check the time elapsed from the start of recording by looking at the clock, etc. A commonly used method is to check the remaining capacity of the storage area based on the elapsed time. In addition, when recording via a central office line, because the user is often not the owner of the answering machine, the largest number of response messages sent by the answering machine before the user starts recording is A method of notifying the user of the recording time is also widely used as an advanced form of the above method.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, with these methods, the user needs to record the voice message while calculating the remaining capacity of the storage area, so it is troublesome to look at the clock while recording. others,
There were problems such as a difference sometimes occurring between the actual remaining capacity of the storage area and the remaining capacity calculated by the user.

In particular, in answering machines that use semiconductor memory as a means of storing voice messages, the storage area for each message is smaller than that of conventional tape-type ones, so the user has to calculate the actual storage area and remaining capacity of the area. If there is a difference between the remaining capacity of the storage area and the remaining capacity of the storage area, this will have a large effect, and in the worst case, the remaining capacity of the storage area may run out before the recording of the voice message is completed.

Therefore, we installed a visible indicator such as a lamp on the answering machine,
When recording voice messages, proposed methods include shortening the flashing cycle of the display lamp as the remaining capacity of the storage area decreases, or converting the remaining capacity of the storage area into time and displaying it on the display. With this configuration, a user who records a voice message near an answering machine can visually check the remaining capacity of the storage area.

However, there is still no way to notify users who record voice messages via a central office line of the remaining capacity of the storage area directly from their answering machines, so users have to calculate the remaining capacity themselves while recording voice messages. There was a problem in that it required recording, which placed a burden on the user.

The present invention was made to solve this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an answering machine that can notify the remaining capacity of a storage area when recording a voice message via a central office line.

Means for Solving Problem c] The answering machine according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a guidance signal generation means for generating a guidance signal, and starts the guidance signal generation means when automatically receiving a call, and thereafter stores voice messages. Guidance signal modulation control means is provided for modulating the guidance signal in accordance with the remaining capacity of a storage area for voice messages of a fixed length in which recording is being performed in the means, and transmitting the guidance signal to the central office line.

The answering machine according to the second aspect of the present invention functions as a guidance signal generating means for generating a guidance signal and a guidance signal generating means when a call is automatically received, and thereafter the voice message is recorded in the voice message storage means. guidance signal modulation control means for modulating the guidance signal in accordance with the remaining capacity of the voice message storage area of a certain length and transmitting it to the central office line; The output stage is equipped with a filter that suppresses the guidance signal.

(Function) In the first aspect of the present invention, when a call is automatically received, a voice message is recorded in the voice message storage means, but at the same time, the guidance signal generation means is also activated, and thereafter recording in the voice message storage means is performed. A guidance signal modulated in accordance with the remaining capacity of the voice message storage area of a certain length is sent to the central office line.

In a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first aspect, a voice message and a guidance signal are separated by a filter.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an answering machine of the present invention.

In this figure, 1 is an incoming call detection circuit, 2 is a loop control circuit, 3 is a line transformer, 4 is a guidance signal generation circuit as a guidance signal generation means, 5 is a voice message reproduction circuit as voice message reproduction means, and 6 is a voice 7 is a filter, 8 is a voice message recording circuit as voice message recording means, and 9 is a control section as automatic call reception means and guidance signal modulation control means.

The incoming call detection circuit 1 detects a calling signal from the office line, and the loop control circuit 2 closes and opens the office line based on the signal from the control unit 9. When the office line is closed, the loop control circuit 2 closes and opens the office line and closes the office line and line transformer. Physically connect 3. Furthermore, when the office line is closed, the guidance signal generation circuit 4 and the voice message reproducing circuit 5 are connected to the office line via the line transformer 3.
A voice message recording circuit 8 is also connected to the central office line via a filter 7 and a line transformer 3. The voice message playback circuit 5 has a function of converting the voice data stored in the voice message storage section 6 into a voice signal, and the voice message recording circuit 8 can conversely store the input voice signal in the voice message storage section 6. It has the function of converting into data. The voice message storage section 6, as shown in FIG.
It is subdivided into a storage area for response messages, a storage area for business messages, etc., and the size of each storage area is determined in advance.

Next, the operation will be explained.

First, when the incoming call detection circuit 1 detects a central office line paging signal, the control section 9 activates the loop control circuit 2 to close the central office line and start an automatic answering operation. by this,
The voice message reproducing circuit 5 operates, converts the response message previously stored in the response message storage area of the voice message storage section 6 into a voice signal, and sends it to the central office line via the line transformer 3. For example, the response message sent here is something like, "This is Suzuki. I'm currently out of the office because I'm out shopping. I'll record your business, so please tell me your name, phone number, and business." , which requests the user to send a business message.

When the sending of the response message is completed, recording of the message from the user is started. At this time, the voice message recording circuit 8 records the line transformer 3. The voice signal on the office line is input through the filter 7, and the voice signal is stored in the message storage area in the voice message storage section 6.

On the other hand, at the same time as the recording of the business message starts, the guidance signal generation circuit 4 operates and sends a guidance signal to the central office line via the line transformer 3. Here, the guidance signal to be sent out is as shown in FIGS. 3(a) and (b).
It is a single frequency signal in the telephone voice band, has a fixed duration, and is generated periodically until determined by the controller 9. The control unit 9 monitors the remaining capacity of the message storage area, and changes, for example, the generation cycle of the guidance signal in accordance with the remaining capacity of the message storage area that is being recorded. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the guidance signal generation period becomes shorter as the remaining capacity of the business message storage area decreases, and when the remaining capacity is exhausted, the guidance signal is continuously transmitted for a certain period of time.

Therefore, the user can check the remaining capacity of the business storage area from changes in the generation cycle of guidance signals that can be heard through the line.

Thereafter, when the remaining capacity of the message storage area becomes zero, or when the user manually issues a signal indicating the end of voice message recording, recording of the message is stopped. Thereafter, if there is no remote signal input from the user, the control section 9 operates the loop control circuit 2, opens the central office line, and ends the automatic response operation.

Note that when the guidance signal is being sent to the office line, the audio signal input from the office line to the filter 7 via the line transformer 3 is mixed with the user's voice transmitted through the office line. It has become something like that. However, in this embodiment, a filter 7 is provided, and its frequency characteristics are set so that only the guidance signal component is suppressed as shown in FIG. 5, and the remaining telephone voice band signals are transmitted. This prevents the guidance signal from being mixed into the audio signal input to the audio message recording circuit 8. That is, the guidance signal is not mixed into the voice data stored in the business message storage area of the voice message storage section 6.

However, due to the filter 7, not only the guidance signal but also the
The same frequency components as the guidance signal are also suppressed in the user's voice signal. Therefore, in order to prevent deterioration of accumulated user voice signals, it is desirable to use a guidance signal with a narrow frequency band and a filter with good frequency selectivity.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the generation cycle of the guidance signal is changed as modulation corresponding to the remaining capacity of the voice message storage area, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the frequency of the guidance signal is changed. , amplitude, etc. may be configured, and similar effects can be obtained by performing these modulations.

It is also possible to configure the system to additionally record business messages and response messages via the central office line by inputting a predetermined remote signal from the user. The recording method is the same as above.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the configuration in which the filter 7 is provided at the input stage of the voice message recording circuit 8 has been described.
It goes without saying that the same effect can be achieved even if the filter 7 is provided at the output stage of the voice message reproducing circuit 5.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the first aspect of the present invention includes a guidance signal generating means for generating a guidance signal, and a guidance signal generating means that is activated when a call is automatically received, and from then on, the recording in the voice message storage means is Since the guidance signal modulation control means modulates the guidance signal in accordance with the remaining capacity of the storage area for voice messages of a certain length and sends it to the central office line, the voice message can be recorded over the central office line. Even when recording, it becomes possible to perform recording while checking the remaining capacity of the voice message storage area using a guidance signal, which has the effect of improving operability.

As explained above, the second invention of the present invention includes a guidance signal generation means for generating a guidance signal, and a constant state in which the guidance signal generation means is activated when a call is automatically received, and thereafter recording in the voice message storage means is performed. guidance signal modulation control means for modulating the guidance signal in accordance with the remaining capacity of the long voice message storage area and transmitting it to the central office line; Since it is equipped with a filter that has the characteristic of suppressing the guidance signal,
In addition to the effects of the invention described above, there is an effect that clear recording of voice messages becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the answering machine of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a voice message storage section, and FIGS. 3(a) and (b) are for explaining guidance signals. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the remaining capacity of the storage area and the guidance signal generation cycle, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the frequency characteristics of the filter. In the figure, 1 is an incoming call detection circuit, 2 is a loop control circuit, 3 is a line transformer, 4 is a guidance signal generation circuit, 5 is a voice message playback circuit, 6 is a voice message storage section, 7
8 is a filter, 8 is a voice message recording circuit, and 9 is a control section. Figure 1 3, Line transformer Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 4 Capacity C"to) Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An automatic call receiving means that automatically receives a call by detecting a paging signal from a central office line, a voice message storage means that stores a voice message of a certain length, and a user's A voice message recording means for recording a voice in a voice message storage area of a fixed length in the voice message storage means, and a voice message reproduction means for reproducing the voice message stored in the voice message storage means, and an automatic In an answering machine that records a voice message sent via the central office line when a call is received,
guidance signal generation means for generating a guidance signal;
When a call is automatically received, the guidance signal generation means is activated, and thereafter, the guidance signal is modulated in accordance with the remaining capacity of the voice message storage area of a certain length in which recording is being performed in the voice message storage means. 1. An answering machine characterized by comprising guidance signal modulation control means for transmitting to a central office line. (2) automatic call receiving means that automatically receives a call by detecting a paging signal from a central office line; voice message storage means that stores voice messages of a certain length; A voice message recording means for recording a voice in a voice message storage area of a fixed length in the voice message storage means, and a voice message reproduction means for reproducing the voice message stored in the voice message storage means, and an automatic In an answering machine that records a voice message sent via the central office line when a call is received,
guidance signal generation means for generating a guidance signal;
When a call is automatically received, the guidance signal generation means is activated, and thereafter, the guidance signal is modulated in accordance with the remaining capacity of the voice message storage area of a certain length in which recording is being performed in the voice message storage means. A guidance signal modulation control means for sending out to a local office line is provided, and a filter having a characteristic of suppressing the guidance signal is provided at the input stage of the voice message recording means or the output stage of the voice message reproduction means. answering machine.